{"id":2213325,"date":"2024-04-04T18:44:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T22:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-trump-doj-official-violated-ethics-rules-in-2020-election-effort-panel\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T18:44:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T22:44:24","slug":"former-trump-doj-official-violated-ethics-rules-in-2020-election-effort-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-trump-doj-official-violated-ethics-rules-in-2020-election-effort-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"Panel finds ex-Trump DOJ official breached ethics in 2020 election involvement"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-trump-doj-official-violated-ethics-rules-in-2020-election-effort-panel%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2213325&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Washington, D.C., legal panel determined that former Trump\u2064 DOJ senior official Jeffrey Clark breached ethics rules by involving the agency in investigating election irregularities in \u200d2020. The panel&#8217;s preliminary ruling, made after a week of testimony,\u2062 could \u2064lead to\u200d Clark&#8217;s disbarment. Clark&#8217;s defense argued\u200c against the\u200b allegations, emphasizing a legitimate\u2064 internal DOJ dispute over\u200c the 2020 election results.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Washington, D.C.<\/a>, legal panel on Thursday found former Trump administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/justice-department\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Justice Department<\/a> senior official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2938543\/trump-doj-official-faces-disbarment-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Jeffrey Clark<\/a> violated at least one attorney ethics rule during a bid to enlist the agency to examine alleged election irregularities in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The finding is preliminary and came on the eighth day of testimony over Clark\u2019s attempt to use the DOJ in the final days of Trump\u2019s term to draft a letter to Georgia officials claiming that the agency \u201cidentified significant concerns\u201d that may have altered the election in Georgia or other states.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark attends an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023. (AP Photo\/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hamilton \u201cPhil\u201d Fox, the head of the district\u2019s Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which brought the civil charges, said he would seek to have Clark disbarred. The three-member committee for the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility found that Clark\u2019s conduct violated at least one attorney ethics rule.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorney Harry MacDougald, who also represents Clark as a client in his criminal case in Georgia, where he is charged alongside former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Donald Trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> and several others in a sweeping racketeering indictment, denied that Clark violated any ethics rule. MacDougald also sought to prove throughout the course of the trial that there was a genuine internal dispute at the Justice Department surrounding the results of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>MacDougald for days stressed that a decision to penalize his client over the case brought by Fox would create a \u201cchilling effect\u201d for lawyers merely attempting to serve their clients, and he repeated such claims on Thursday in his closing arguments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Clark, who would probably be making over a million dollars a year leading the environmental Administrative Law Group at a major D.C. law firm. But for this matter he has been subjected to endless trouble, public ridicule and opprobrium,\u201d MacDougald said.<\/p>\n<p>A spokeswoman for the Center for Renewing America, a conservative group where Clark is a senior fellow of litigation, told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>that the panel\u2019s decision opens President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Joe Biden\">Joe Biden<\/a>\u2018s staffers and legal advisers up for liability.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s \u201cimportant to point out that this now opens the door for current Biden staffers to be disbarred for advising Biden,\u201d said Rachel Cauley, communications director and fellow for CRA.<\/p>\n<p>The panel will recommend specific sanctions at a later date, which could include the suspension or revocation of Clark\u2019s license. Any sanction must first be approved by the full board and a Washington, D.C., appeals court.<\/p>\n<p>Last week and this week, Clark\u2019s defense counsel brought forward experts to testify, including Donald Elliot, a former general counsel to the Environmental Protection Agency who said the gray area in which Clark operated at the DOJ was necessary for a functioning agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I think it\u2019s important that we have the free and open exchange of ideas within agencies \u2026 but I think that \u2026 one of the traditions in the United States is that even false ideas are protected when they contribute to the debate,\u201d Elliot added.<\/p>\n<p>After Trump lost the 2020 election, he began meeting with Clark to discuss the former president\u2019s potential efforts to use the DOJ to support his claim of election fraud. Eventually, Trump indicated he was considering making Clark acting attorney general after the December resignation of then-Attorney General Bill Barr.<\/p>\n<p>Clark told two of his superiors, acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and Rosen\u2019s deputy Richard Donoghue, that if they sent his draft letter to Georgia officials, he would decline Trump\u2019s offer to lead the DOJ, an effort that Fox claimed could have thrown into doubt the peaceful transfer of power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink of the chaos that would have ensued,\u201d Fox said, noting that the mere act of planning these events amounted to an ethical violation on Clark\u2019s part.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to recommend discipline for Clark comes one week after a judge in California found former Trump campaign attorney John Eastman, who orchestrated a novel legal theory to contest the 2020 race until officials and courts were able to weigh election fraud allegations, should be disbarred for his actions around that time. Eastman is also a co-defendant in the Georgia case. Trump, Clark, and Eastman have pleaded not guilty to the charges there.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Defendant John Eastman listens during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, Friday, Jan, 19, 2024, in Atlanta. (Jason Getz\/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Association of Mature American Citizens, a conservative advocacy group, said Eastman and Clark \u201centered a storm as many of their peers turned a blind eye\u201d in the days after Trump lost the 2020 election, <a href=\"https:\/\/amac.us\/newsline\/society\/the-lawfare-against-john-eastman-and-jeff-clark-portend-the-fate-of-every-right-leaning-attorney-who-fails-to-stand-up-for-their-persecuted-colleagues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"according\">according<\/a> to a Thursday afternoon statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEastman and Clark were two such men of exceptional character who rose to the occasion and heeded the call [of] reasonable enquiries into widespread allegations of election fraud affecting the 2020 race, but the rich heritage of their forefathers \u2013 who also sacrificed a great deal when faced with long odds, to preserve the cause of freedom,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Washington, a legal panel found ex-Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark breached attorney ethics rules by pushing the agency to investigate 2020 election irregularities. This preliminary finding occurred on the eighth day of testimony<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2213326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP20258675748118-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP20258675748118-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}